ANGRY residents have received rent statements from Woking council for relatives who have passed away.

Hundreds of duff rent statements showing a charge of nil were sent out by the borough council last week.

It has apologised for the mailing to its housing tenants, former tenants and even tenants who have died. But some people who received the letters said it should never have happened.

Andy Crossley, of Loder Close, Sheerwater, received two statements, one for himself and one for his mother, Gwen Slusarczyk, who died two-and-a-half years ago.

He said: “It really annoyed me. I found it unbelievable that the council could make that mistake.

“It was so stupid and a waste of postage as well, throughout the borough.”

The 69-year-old said the council should have a system in place where names of those tenants who have died are kept on a separate list to current householders.

He said: “What has happened to the days when someone became deceased and it came up in the records?

“I was told that the information is on file for anything up to 10 years. The law demands that records are kept for more than seven years.

“You don’t want to be reminded every day that someone is no longer here.

“I was more concerned that it might be harmful to elderly women whose husbands had died.

“The council has a duty to ensure that these things don’t happen.”

Mr Crossley cared for his mother and took over the tenancy when she died at the age of 95. Curious to find out why the council had sent out a letter to her, he contacted it.

He said: “Everything is fine with my tenancy support officer. But they are not getting supported by the people above them, the people who are not doing their jobs properly.

“I phoned the council to see what was going on and they said there was a mistake on the computer and that it shouldn’t have been throwing up that information anyway.

“The council was very apologetic. The poor man must have had so many calls. The lines were impossible to get through on. There were people lining up all over the borough, waiting to know.”

Alan Miller of French’s Wells in Sythwood, Goldsworth Park, also received a nil balance bill with his rent statement. He said it was a waste of the council’s time.

Mr Miller, 70, said: “It’s quite funny as the bills read nil, nil nil. It’s two different accounts but it’s for my garage rent which is included in my general rent.

“It seemed like somebody being silly.”

The council’s strategic director, Mark Rolt, said: “It has come to our attention that at the beginning of April a number of Woking Borough Council housing tenants, or their next of kin, were sent a rent statement in error, advising them of a ‘nil balance’ on their old rent account.

“Woking Borough Council wishes to make an unconditional apology for any hurt or distress this may have caused.

“I must stress that at no time was any personal information compromised and that no-one who was sent a statement in error had any payment requested.

“We will be writing to all those who received a statement in error to explain the statement was incorrect and to apologise for any inconvenience this incident may have caused.

“In moving forward, we will be reviewing our processes and the software used to generate the statements to ensure that this will not happen again.

“I would advise anyone who has received a rent statement relating to a previous tenancy in error to dispose of it in a safe and secure way.”

Anyone with a query about their statement can contact tenant and leaseholder services on 01483 755855.